His Dakota Captive

by Jenna Kernan

  “I don’t know why Father Dumax thought I was incapable of bringing one little Indian girl to him,” muttered Mrs. Fetterer to Father Batista.

  “Perhaps he will enlighten you when we see him.”

  They did not have to wait, but were ushered into Father Dumax’s office to find four cavalry officers flanking his desk, before which the Father waited, hands folded, and face strained. Lucie searched the faces for her brother, David, but did not find him there.

  Hummingbird took one look at the army officers and screamed, completely disappearing in Lucie’s skirts. Was she old enough to remember the dawn raids and bloodshed? It occurred to Lucie, only now, to wonder how her mother had died. Was it at the end of a bayonette or with a bullet in her back? Had Hummingbird seen these men destroy her village?

  Lucie wrapped a protective arm about the girl, cutting herself short before she spoke to her in Lakota.

  “Miss West, Mrs. Fetterer, thank you for coming so promptly. Have you heard about our truant officer, Mr. Carr?”

  “What happened?” asked Mrs. Fetterer.

  “Taken from this world and gone to a better place.”

  Mrs. Fetterer pulled a face. It was no secret she despised the man, but for what reason, Lucie had failed to ascertain.

  Father Dumax motioned toward the grim officers. “These men are interested in finding the boy he was pursuing. This one is his sister?”

  She glanced at the soldiers and did not like the way they stared at her charge. Lucie found herself reaching into her pocket for her knife. If the headmaster thought she would turn a child over to the army he was mistaken.

  “Yes, Father,” said Mrs. Fetterer. “Just as you asked.”

  “Miss West. She is in your charge?”

  Lucie nodded.

  “How is her English?”

  “She understands very little.” Her palm grew sweaty on the horn handle of her knife.

  “These men have misplaced their translator and so for this one instance we would like you to apply your language skills for us.”

  Yesterday he had forbidden her to ever speak Lakota, but it seemed she could when it suited them.

  Lucie nodded demurely. Captivity had taught her how to hide her emotions.

  “Of course, Father.”

  The man to the priest’s right took over. “Ask her if she knew her brother would run.”

  Lucie squatted before Hummingbird and held one of her trembling hands. “These bluecoats are looking for your brother because he ran.”

  “Will they shoot him?” she whispered.

  “No. They just need to talk to him. Did you know he was planning to leave?”

  She shook her head.

  Lucie glanced back, the answer obvious.

  “Well?” asked Mrs. Fetterer.

  Lucie clamped her teeth together to keep from sighing aloud. It seemed she must translate head gestures, as well.

  “She did not.”

  The man standing to the Father’s right barked at Lucie as if she were a new recruit.

  “Ask where he’s gone.”

  “If she didn’t know he was leaving, what makes you think she might know where he has gone?”

  He narrowed his eyes on her. Did he think her an “Injun lover,” as well? She did love this little girl enough to stand between her and the officer.

  “Ask her.”

  She faced Hummingbird again. “Where do you think he would go?”

  Hummingbird removed her thumb from her mouth to answer. “Home to uncle.”

  “What is your uncle’s name?”

  “The People call him Eagle Dancer.”

  Lucie bolted upright.

  “What did she say?”

  Lucie’s head was spinning. The boy, the one that ran and this little girl, they must be the children of Eagle Dancer’s only sibling, his sister—Midnight.

  It was Midnight who had discovered that Lucie had her monthly flow and taught her how to take care of herself. It was Midnight who took Lucie in at her brother’s request, when he grew concerned that his mother would kill her.

  Midnight never liked her, but she did keep her alive and treated her with dignity because she loved her brother. And now her daughter was in Lucie’s care.

  She thought of the Lakota notion of a hoop, a circle that never ends and how all things are connected. Lucie began to tremble.

  “Miss West! What did she say?” barked the officer.

  Lucie blinked at them as she remembered where she was. Her surroundings all came back and she recalled her purpose here.

  “She thinks that the boy would go home to his uncle.”

  “That’s all?”

  She nodded, feeling light-headed as a patient just risen from her sickbed.

  “Then why are you shaking like a leaf?” asked the officer.

  She glanced to Mrs. Fetterer and found no ally there. Father Dumax kept his expression carefully concealed. She looked back at the ruddy face of the officer in charge.

  “Because I did not know that this child’s mother was my…” Her what? Her captor, her sister-in-law? “She was my friend.”

  Mrs. Fetterer gasped and then succeeded in looking more disapproving than usual.

  “Father, do you know what happened to her mother? Is she alive?”

  Father Dumax rounded his desk and removed a ledger from the side drawer. He seemed to know exactly where to look.

  Midnight had been alive seven years ago. That was clear from the little girl now gripping Lucie’s hand.

  “We don’t have time for this,” said the officer.

  “She is an orphan. Her only living relative is…oh, dear.” Dumax stared hard at Lucie, putting it together. He knew the name of the warrior who held her. Anyone who read the papers would know.

  “When did she see him last?” asked the officer.

  Lucie’s heart broke as she thought of Midnight. How had she died? Lucie kneeled before the motherless child and asked when she had last seen her brother.

  “In the yard, marching.”

  “Did he speak to you before he left?”

  She shook her head. Lucie folded Hummingbird into her arms and lifted her up onto her hip to stand and face the men. Only then did she translate the child’s words.

  “She doesn’t know anything about this. I’m taking her back to the dorm.”

  “We haven’t finished yet.”

  Lucie was not afraid of this man. He had no power to strike her or kill her. The worst he could do was raise his voice like a wind storm. She took a step toward him, moving close, forcing him to retreat. He bumped into the desk behind him. “We are done, sir. We most certainly are done.”

  Lucie turned to go, but before closing the door she heard the officer speak to Father Dumax. “That’s the one they captured—Lucie West. You’d think she’d want them all dead after what they done to her.”

  She closed the door and carried Hummingbird across the yard. The bugle sounded, calling the children to assemble like good little soldiers. Lucie disliked the military training; in fact, she was beginning to dislike everything about this place.

  Before her, Father Robert, one of the younger priests, made a beeline in her direction.

  “Miss West, did you hear?”

  She paused, impatient with the delay. She wanted to take Hummingbird…where? There was no place the child would feel safe. Her mother was dead. She was exiled to this strange place. Lucie had the urge to run toward the woods with the girl and carry her all the way back to her parents’ home in California.

  Instead she stopped. Hummingbird hid her face in Lucie’s neck.

  “About the murder? Yes.”

  “No. Not that. About the arrests being made on the reservation.”

  Icy fingers squeezed her throat as possibilities raised ugly little heads. She paused, resting a hand on Hummingbird’s small back and rocking from side to side.

  “Who?” she breathed.

  “Some of the chiefs. They’ll be held at Fort Sully unti
l they turn over the ones responsible for Carr’s murder. They say they’ll hang them if the guilty don’t come forward.”

  “Eagle Dancer?” she whispered.

  He nodded. “Yes, he’s among them.”

  The world she had sought to avoid had collided into hers once more. Perhaps it was the hoop, spinning, but it felt more like a locomotive rumbling toward her. Eagle Dancer would be in prison at the fort where her younger brother was a commissioned officer. She did not know if she could help Eagle Dancer, or if her brother would assist her, but she did know that she was white, she was famous nationwide for her ordeal and that her brother was at the fort where they would be holding the Sioux leaders. Those three things may not be enough to help Eagle Dancer, but then again they just might. Eagle Dancer had kept her alive. Here was her chance to do the same for him. And with the debt repaid, perhaps she could finally be rid of him and of the guilt she had lived with for all these years.

  She had to go to him.

  The decision was surprisingly easy. There was no deliberation or dithering as she turned in a slow circle, already searching.

  Sky—was he gone?

  Lucie searched the grounds as if he might appear among the children pouring out of the dormitory and lining up for roll-call. It was Sunday, so there would be no lessons but choral practice in the morning and church all afternoon.

  The morning, he had said. If she changed her mind, he’d be leaving in the morning.

  She glanced up at the sky. The sun had already risen above the roof of the dorm. She took Hummingbird to her place in line and eased her to the ground.

  “I am going to help your uncle,” she said in Lakota.

  Instantly, Hummingbird released her neck. She stared up at Lucie.

  “Tell him I work hard to learn the stick writing.”

  Lucie smiled. “Yes. I will tell him.”

  “Miss West?” It was Mrs. Dwyer, the eldest matron at the school. She had shown Lucie no kindness here and stepped forward to block Lucie. “What do you think you are doing?”

  Lucie straightened and tugged at her short jacket. Then she spoke to her in Lakota. “Mind your own business or I’ll mind it for you.”

  The girls covered their mouths to avoid being seen laughing. Lucie turned and hurried toward the stable. She reached the side door just as Sky, already mounted, left the barn.

  His horse stopped without her seeing any movement from Sky, as if the horse and man were of one mind.

  “Did you hear they’ve arrested him?”

  Sky nodded. “I’m headed to Fort Sully now to see what I can do.”

  “I’m going with you. Just let me gather my things.”

  Sky swung to the ground beside her. “I’ll wait.”

  Lucie hurried to the dormitory. She transferred all her possessions from the trunk to the blanket and tied them with a rope into a bundle. Then she changed out of her shoes and left them behind. She released the bun that held her hair, letting the single long braid swing down her back. As an afterthought she snatched up a pen and set out a piece of paper to write her resignation. This act gave her pause. She had fought her parents and opposed her mother to accept this position. It had been the most important thing in her world, to come back here. To look in the faces of these children and know that they were giving the best her people could give. She had failed again, but was she ready to throw away the security of this place to follow Sky across the prairie into the heart of Indian country? She began to tremble.

  It was clear she was not helping the children here. In her heart she knew she should go, that this was her only chance to assuage her guilt and shame. Still, it was hard to step from the shadows and back into the light where people would ridicule her once more.

  She thought of Eagle Dancer in a cell and was ashamed, not for her actions but for those of her people. She dipped the nib and wrote the words that would sever her ties to this place. Lucie stood, blowing on the wet ink before folding the page. Instead of the fear she anticipated she felt an unexpected surging sense of freedom. The sensation eroded rapidly as she wrapped her shawl about herself, drawing it close. Was she really setting off with a near-stranger to help a man who had once held her captive—a man who had once kept her alive?

  In her heart she knew it was right, but it hurt to leave her students and it troubled her to imagine what her parents would think of this action. Her mother did not believe her capable of making sensible decisions. Was this yet more proof that her mother was right?

  She thought of what Sarah West was willing to do to save her daughter and knew that she must be that strong if she were to gain Eagle Dancer’s release. Did he know who killed the officer?

  Lucie lifted her bundle and left the room. On the way through the yard, she found Mrs. Fetterer.

  “Please tell Father Dumax that I have a family emergency and give him this.”

  The matron pressed the letter to her bosom. “What has happened?”

  Lucie squared her shoulders, preparing herself to speak the words aloud. “My husband has been arrested.”

  Mrs. Fetterer cocked her head and gaped. When she recovered herself she said, “Your husband? But you’re not married.”

  “Tell him I am going to Fort Sully to see about his release.”

  “Whose release?”

  “My husband, Eagle Dancer.”

  Chapter Six

  Lucie had no horse and the stable had none to rent. “I’ll pay double your rate.”

  Mr. Fetterer owned both the smithy and the stable. He stood before her now and Lucie noticed he’d singed all the hair from his arms by his work at the forge. What was left was coiled, melted lumps or red hairless patches. He had a bad habit of picking at the healing scabs on his forearms as he talked, causing them to bleed. “Double won’t help. Those ain’t mine. Only ones we got have owners.”

  She eyed the chestnut mare.

  “That one belongs to Mr. Bloom. Carriage horse, mostly, though it does take a saddle.”

  “Would he sell it?”

  “Doubt it.”

  Sky, who had been standing back by the entrance, dropped the reins of his stallion. The horse followed as he walked back to them.

  He spoke to Lucie, ignoring Fetterer altogether. “Ask if he’d take forty dollars for that old horse.”

  Lucie headed for the store and returned with Mr. Bloom. The man would have been a fool to refuse, though he did mutter something about stolen money as he hurried ahead of Lucie. Sky managed to get him to include a saddle and bridle, before producing two twenty-dollar gold pieces that shone bright even in the dim stable. Bloom fairly snatched the bounty from his hand. The exchange complete, Sky tied her bundle behind the saddle.

  Lucie thought of a time she had been happy to ride on just a piece of buffalo hide rather than walk the miles the women walked, carrying the belongings to keep the men’s hands free for their weapons. On more than one occasion she had witnessed the wisdom of that method.

  She saw them all before her, the women and children hurrying ahead and the men turned back to hold off attack by the cavalry.

  “Lucie?” Sky stared at her. She had not seen him mount. But he now sat beside her on his horse.

  She had to shake her head to bring herself back to the here and now. Men didn’t just throw forty dollars away on a horse, especially men who made their living catching and training mustangs. Lucie was not naive enough to believe he purchased the animal out of Christian charity. Did he act out of duty to Eagle Dancer or did he want something in return? Her stomach clenched at the thought.

  His brow wrinkled as he stared at her. “Don’t you like the horse?”

  She managed to find her manners. “Yes, thank you for buying her.”

  Sky’s smile made her insides tremble. But now she recognized that the sensation she initially thought was dread had somehow changed to an excitement she did not understand. Sky was a stranger, wasn’t he?

  But he wasn’t. Not in all ways, at least. They shared a past and co
mmon experience. That alone brought them together. But this nervous jumping of her insides and the rush of blood to her face, that was something else entirely. She was setting out alone with Sky and she was unreasonably thrilled at the prospect. What the devil was wrong with her?

  His smile faded and she realized she had stolen any pleasure he might have had at the gift by her odd reaction. Her cheeks burned now with embarrassment.

  “Have you changed your mind about going, then?” he asked, venturing a guess at the cause of her befuddlement.

  She shook her head, when in fact she had been thinking just that. She was afraid of leaving the safety of the school, of riding out with a near-stranger onto the prairie where she had been taken. But most of all she was afraid of this rolling anticipation within herself and where it might lead. She knew better than to be enamored with a man who was as wild as his horse.

  Lucie wavered between what was right and what was safe. She stared out at the vastness of the plains, knowing better than most how tiny she was by comparison.

  “Lucie? He needs our help.”

  She swallowed hard and met Sky’s steady gaze. He held himself with a kind of confidence she admired. This man knew what was right and he only waited for her to recall her duty…to her husband.

  She nodded. “I’m ready.”

  Mr. Bloom stepped up to hold her horse as she climbed the mounting block and swung her leg over the saddle. Once seated she glanced at the stallion that had carried her last night, noticing now in full light that he had one blue eye and one brown one. “What is his name?”

  “Ceta,” answered Sky, “because he can fly.”

  Falcon, she thought. He had named his horse after the fastest of birds.

  She lifted the reins and looked at him. He smiled his approval.

  “Ready,” she whispered.

  Mr. Bloom raised his hands to halt them. “Aren’t you forgetting something? Bacon, coffee, beans?” As the owner of the only trading post within miles, it obviously pained him to see an opportunity to make money riding off.

  Sky shook his head.

  “You’ll get mighty hungry before you reach Fort Sully.”

  “No,” said Sky. “We won’t.”

  The man snorted. “Suit yourself.” He turned to Lucie. “You sure about this? Might be better to stay here where it’s safe, especially if they’re raiding again.”